Giving the Emperor Real Clothes: The UN Human Rights Council (Global Insights) (United Nations‪)‬

In April 2005, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) of the United Nations received one of its final deathblows from the secretary-general. In his 2005 report, In Larger Freedom, Kofi Annan stated that politicization and selectivity had undermined the commission and that its declining credibility had tarnished the reputation of the UN. Instead of piecemeal reforms, the secretary-general suggested a fresh start with a new UN Human Rights Council. The September 2005 UN World Summit decided to endorse the proposal and to create the new council with a mandate to address country situations, including gross and systematic human rights violations. All the details of the new council have been left to the General Assembly to debate, negotiate, and clarify. How can the new UN Human Rights Council be credible, powerful, and legitimate in a world of power politics? How can the UN Human Rights Council avoid the flaws and failures of the CHR? If the chief problems of the CHR have been politicization and selectivity, are these not endemic to the current international political system? Is international human rights scrutiny a question of structure or willpower?